A “tribute” will be paid on Tuesday to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the 51 French killed on October 7, 2023 in the attacks perpetrated by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas or during its captivity in Gaza, the head of diplomacy announced on Monday, October 6.
“Tuesday, October 7 at 10 am, a ceremony will be organized at the Quai d’Osay, in tribute to the 51 French who died on October 7 or in captivity, because we owe them,” said Jean-Noël Barrot on Radio France Inter. France is, with the United States, the country that has the greatest number of victims of these attacks.
The attack of October 7 brought to the Israeli side the death of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an evaluation established by the AFP of the official data. Of the 251 people kidnapped that day, 47 are still hostage in Gaza, 25 of which died according to the Israeli army.
“Concretize” the peace plan
In return, the Israeli retaliation offensive left at least 67,139 dead in Gaza, mainly civil, according to figures from the Hamas Ministry of Health, considered reliable by the UN.
Jean-Noël Barot also announced that he would welcome counterparts in European and Arab countries in Paris on Thursday for a meeting aimed at “completing” the peace plan for Gaza. Questioned by AFP, Quai d’Orsay could not give details about these two events.
In the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Serra on Sunday, the head of Italian diplomacy Antonio Tajani had indicated that he would participate in a meeting on Thursday in Paris in Gaza. “On October 9, I will have a meeting in Paris with the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, as well as with the Arab countries, and then, in Egypt, the conference for reconstruction will be held,” he said.
A solution of two states
France is, with Saudi Arabia, at the initiative of a so-called New York statement, which was voted by the UN General Assembly in July, and that supports the solution of two states to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for Gaza.
For his part, the US president, Donald Trump, proposed a plan to end war in the Palestinian territory.
Hamas said he was ready on Friday for immediate negotiations for the release of the hostages selected in Gaza and the end of the war, as part of the US plan that occupies elements of the Franco-Saudi initiative.
On Monday, the delegations of Hamas and Israel would begin indirect negotiations in Egypt for the launch of the hostages selected in Gaza and ended two years of devastating war in the Palestinian territory.
Source: BFM TV
